All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

@Harrison HodsonAgree with @Antoine Martel response Just would add be sure the borrower has a clear title for the property.  

Structure a loan to fit your needs. You may find that no or low points are fine for long term loans. Whereas higher points are needed for short term loans. Length of the loan will vary. I only do one year loans with a balloon and only for the cost of the purchase. If I have experience with a builder I will loan on the construction costs. Realize I do not loan on raw land only on rehabs. You really have to do a few before making any hard and fast rules.

Do you have property now that you can refi, HELOC or otherwise use as collateral? Is there any reason you must make an investment now? Not knowing your exact circumstances but if you have no money for real estate suggest you live like a pauper and save like a miser. Always, always have cash on hand before jumping into real estate.

@Brian Eastman My previous reply should have been addressed to you.

Thanks for the reply,Bernard. I actually have a checkbook IRA for rentals and this IRA is for loans. Unfortunately I had to foreclose so now have a small apartment building in the non-LLC IRA. After straightening out the management of these units I intend to sell it. Am just sort of caught in the middle for now.

My question is more of an academic one. As you suggested there are ways to get things like this paid without having a check made out to the store. My IRA told me this non-acceptance is a recent change. So just curious what the heck happened that big box stores will no longer accept checks made out by large institutions. Or is it just my IRA they will not accept payment from. Just wondering.

I have been using my IRA for RE investing for over 20 years. I needed to replace a washing machine in one of my rentals. My IRA sent a check as directed to me made out to Lowes. Lowes tried to accept it but it was denied. I called my IRA and they said most big box stores have, because of fraud, stopped accepting checks from "institutions like ours". Has anyone run into this problem? Any idea what is going on?

@Bryce Peterson I just use a simple spreadsheet. Unless you have over 20 or so loans out there a spreadsheet works fine. For a larger number of loans I would look for some accounting software (and some assistance). The difficult part of tracking loans comes when you have to foreclose. Tracking that process can be tedious. 

@Alecia Jones Welcome to BP and to real estate in Arkansas. There is a networking group in Little Rock that you should join to meet both newbies and old hands. Check out CARREIA. If you care to drive to the Hot Springs area join our MeetUp the third Thursday of every month. Go to MeetUp.com and sign up for details.

There is a real estate investor group  and a meetup in Little Rock. I have a MeetUp in Hot Springs the 3rd Sat. of the month. Go to Meetup.com and sign up to get the details.

Am sure this shows my ignorance but why can't they get a SS#. The government loves to track income and needs people to have a SS# to do this. What am I missing?

Thanks. Learned about invesopedia too.